Top 32 Feature Match: Jason Hoang vs. Mario Matheu

May 16th, 2010

Froggy Monarchs have done well both here, and at the SHONEN JUMP Championship in New Jersey, but Jason Hoang is playing the first Froggy Quickdraw Deck we’ve seen. He’s playing Ronintoaden from The Shining Darkness in his Main Deck, rounding out a creative strategy. Hoang finished the Swiss Rounds with an 8-2 record.

His opponent is former SHONEN JUMP Champion Mario Matheu. Matheu is 1 of the many X-Saber Duelists here in the Top 32, and he went 9-1 in the Swiss Rounds. He’s playing Compulsory Evacuation Device, creating some awesome combos that we’ll hopefully get to see in this Match.

Hoang won the roll, and opened with a hand of 2 Battle Faders, Caius the ShadowMonarch, Brain Control, Heavy Storm, and Raiza the Storm Monarch. He Set Heavy Storm to get started.

Matheu destroyed his Storm with his own, and attacked with X-Saber Airbellum, but the attack was stopped by Battle Fader! Matheu Set a card to his Spell & Trap Card Zone.

Hoang took Airbellum with Brain Control, attacked, and Matheu had to discard his own Brain Control. Hoang Tributed Airbellum for Caius the Shadow Monarch in Main Phase 2, but lost it to the Bottomless Trap Hole he targeted with Caius’ effect.

On Matheu’s turn, Fullhelmknight attacked Battle Fader, and Matheu used Fulhelmknight’s effect to Special Summon Airbellum from his hand. When Airbellum attacked, Hoang Summoned another Battle Fader to keep his hand intact! Matheu Set another Spell or Trap, ending his turn with 1 card left in-hand.

Hoang Tributed his Battle Fader for Caius the Shadow Monarch, removing Fulhelmknight from the field, but losing his Caius to another Bottomless Trap Hole. He followed up by discarding Dandylion to Special Summon Quickdraw Synchron, then Synchro Summoned Drill Warrior! Drill Warrior attacked over X-Saber Airbellum to destroy it, and Hoang ended with no cards in hand.

Matheu drew to 2 cards, then Set a monster and a card to his back row.

Hoang drew EnemyController and thought a while about whether or not he wanted to attack, and how. He halved Drill Warrior’s ATK, attacked directly, and Matheu activated Mirror Force to destroy Drill Warrior!

Next turn, Matheu Flip Summoned XX-Saber Darksoul, Normal Summoned X-Saber Airbellum, attacked with Darksoul to destroy Hoang’s last Fluff Token, then used Airbellum to attack and make Hoang discard Enemy Controller. Matheu Tuned Airbellum to Darksoul, Synchro Summoned Goyo Guardian, and in the End Phase he searched his Deck for X-Saber Pashuul! Matheu was now in firm control of the Duel.

Hoang drew Substitoad. He Summoned it, Tributed it, and Special Summoned SwapFrog from his Deck, sending Treeborn Frog to his Graveyard. He then returned the Swap Frog to his hand, with 5600 Life Points left. Matheu had 5600 Life Points as well.

Matheu attacked with Goyo Guardian, dropping his opponent to 2800 Life Points, then Set a monster.

Hoang drew Mystical Space Typhoon, Special Summoned TreebornFrog, and Summoned Swap Frog again, sending another Treeborn to his Graveyard. He attacked with Swap Frog, revealing X-Saber Pashuul, and then activated Swap Frog’s effect to return Treeborn to his hand. He shuffled his hand and Set Treeborn again to finish his turn.

Matheu Summoned XX-Saber Darksoul, attacked Treeborn Frog with it, and then attacked Swap Frog with Goyo Guardian, taking control of the Frog. Matheu Tuned Pashuul to Darksoul, Synchro Summoned Magical Android, and in the End Phase he got XX-Saber Fulhelmknight from his Deck.

Both Duelists almost come down to topdecking, and though Jason Hoang got out DrillWarrior, Matheu turned it around with XX-Saber Darksoul and a flurry of Synchro Summons as a result! Both competitors made full use of their Side Decks, and we were headed to the second Duel.

Hoang started Game 2 with a hand of Soul Exchange, Mystical Space Typhoon, Dandylion, Dust Tornado, Brain Control, and Battle Fader. He Set Dandylion, Set Dust Tornado, and ended.

Matheu Set a Spell or Trap and ended.

Hoang drew Caius the Shadow Monarch, giving him an opportunity to go on the offensive, and Flip Summoned Dandylion to attack for 300 Battle Damage.

Play passed to Matheu, who Summoned XX-Saber Darksoul, attacked Dandylion to destroy Darksoul, and used its effect to search his Deck for XX-Saber Fulhelmknight in the End Phase.

Hoang drew a second copy of Battle Fader, and attacked for another 300 damage.

Matheu Summoned Fulhelmknight, attacked, and activated Book of Moon to turn Dandylion face-down (and more importantly, to Defense Position, so he could use Fulhelmknight’s effect). He Special Summoend XX-Saber Darksoul from his Graveyard with Fulhelmknight, destroyed 1 of Hoang’s 2 FluffTokens, and in Main Phase 2 Tuned his 2 monsters together to Synchro Summon XX-Sayber Hyunlei. Hoang Chained the targeted Dust Tornado, destroyed Matheu’s Set Bottomless Trap Hole, and Matheu Set another Spell or Trap. Matheu got X-SaberPashuul from his Deck in the End Phase.

Hoang drew Spiritual Water Art – Aoi, and activated Mystical Space Typhoon in his Standby Phase, destroying Matheu’s Set Book of Moon. He then Tribute Summoned Caius the Shadow Monarch, removing Hyunlei from the game, and attacked for 2400 Battle Damage. He Set Spiritual Water Art to finish his turn.

Matheu Summoned XX-Saber Boggart Knight, and used its effect to Special Summon X-Saber Pashuul. He Special Summoned XX-Saber Faultroll, took control of Caius with Mind Control, and Tuned for Stardust Dragon! Next he used Faultroll’s effect to Special Summon back Pashuul, Tuned it to Boggart Knight for another Hyunlei, and destroyed Spiritual Water Art. Hyunlei attacked and Hoang Summoned Battle Fader! Matheu now had 2 cards left in-hand.

Hoang drew Raiza the Storm Monarch. He had Brain Control, Soul Exchange, another Battle Fader, and Raiza. He activated Brain Control, took Stardust Dragon, attacked with it to destroy Hyunlei, then Tributed it for Raiza the Storm Monarch, putting Faultroll back on top of Matheu’s Deck. Matheu drew it again moments later, and passed his next turn!

On the following turn, Hoang drew Heavy Storm and attacked with Raiza for 2400 damage. Matheu was down to 2200 Life Points, while Hoang was sitting pretty at 7200. He Set Heavy Storm.

Jason Hoang dominates the second Duel, fighting his way through a field of Hyunlei, Faultroll, and Stardust Dragon to take a commanding position and the win! Side Decking was quick and we proceeded to the third Duel.

Matheu opened the last Duel with a Set monster and 2 Set cards to his Spell & Trap Card Zone.

Hoang had a hand of Brain Control, Battle Fader, Dandylion, Treeborn Frog, SwapFrog, and Spiritual Water Art – Aoi. He Summoned Swap Frog, used its effect to send Treeborn Frog to his Graveyard, and returned Swap Frog to his hand to get another Normal Summon, Setting Treeborn Frog (this was actually a play error, as SwapFrog’s effect can’t be used to Set a monster, only to Normal Summon, but Matheu didn’t see a problem even after reading the card and the mistake wasn’t caught). He Set Water Art, and play passed to Matheu.

Next turn Matheu activated Mystical Space Typhoon from his hand. Hoang Chained Water Art, Tributed Treeborn Frog, and Matheu activated Solemn Judgment to negate it! This seemed a little extreme, but the reasoning soon became clear! Matheu Summoned X-Saber Airbellum, Flip Summoned XX-Saber Darksoul, and Special Summoned XX-Saber Faultroll. He Synchro Summoned Hyunlei, Special Summoned X-SaberAirbellum with Faultroll, then activated Compulsory Evacuation Device to take back his own Faultroll! He Special Summoned it again, used its effect a second time to Special Summon XX-Saber Darksoul, then Tuned Airbellum and Hyunlei together for XX-Saber Gottoms! He Tributed Darksoul for Gottoms’ effect, forced Hoang to discard Swap Frog, and attacked with XX-Saber Faultroll and Gottoms. He then Tributed Faultroll, and Hoang discarded Dandylion! Hoang Special Summoned 2 Fluff Tokens, and Matheu had to Tribute his own Gottoms in an effort to eliminate any opposing Monarchs or Synchrons in Hoang’s hand! Hoang discarded Brain Control. In the End Phase, Matheu had 2 Darksoul effects: he used them to get XX-Saber Fulhelmknight and XX-Saber Faultroll from his Deck.

Hoang drew Spiritual Water Art – Aoi, Special Summoned Treeborn Frog, Set Water Art, and next turn activated it to reveal Matheu’s hand: XX-Saber Emmersblade, XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, XX-Saber Faultroll, and Cold Wave. He discarded XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, leaving Matheu to do nothing but pass.

Next turn Hoang Special Summoned Treeborn Frog in Defense position. The Duel stood at 4000 Life Points to 2500, with Matheu in the lead.

Matheu Summoned Emmersblade next turn, attacking Treeborn Frog, and he followed it up with Soul Release to remove all of Hoang’s monsters from his Graveyard! But Hoang topdecked Raiza the Storm Monarch, Tributed a Fluff Token, and returned Matheu’s Emmersblade back to the top of his Deck. Raiza attacked.

Matheu Set a monster on his next turn.

Then Hoang drew another Monarch – Caius! Hoang Tribute Summoned it, removed Matheu’s face-down monster from the game and attacked with both Monarchs for the win!

Jason Hoang defeats Mario Matheu in a close Match, taking Froggy Quickdraw to the Top 16!

Post-Event Analysis!See what our panel of experts had to say about this Duel after the event was over.

Jason Grabher-Meyer(The Old Man of Dueling)Mario Matheu may have just barely lost this Match, but he certainly made the slickest play! Matheu’s use of Compulsory Evacuation Device to return his own XX-SaberFaultroll to his hand, then re-Summoning it to get a second Special Summon from his Graveyard, was awesome. Compulsory Evacuation Device can be really versatile since it works on both players’ monsters.

Michael Kohanim(2009 World Championship Competitor)In Duel 3, Matheu had to activate Solemn Judgment to negate Hoang’s Spiritual Water Art – Aoi. Spiritual Water Artis an awesome card that most Duelists don’t even know exists! Many players are familiar with Confiscation, a forbidden Spell Card that allows a player to give up 1000 Life Points to choose a card in the opponent’s hand and discard it, and Spiritual Water Art – Aoi is a great substitute. Hoang can Special Summon Treeborn Frog and then Set Spiritual Water Art to Tribute the Frog on his opponent’s turn. Then he gets to pitch a card from that player’s hand, after the player draws. The Tribute is an almost meaningless cost, since Hoang can Special Summon Treeborn Frog right back to the field in his next Standby Phase. Spiritual Water Art – Aoi can take away his opponent’s best plays and secure a victory.

P.J. Tierney(Duelist from across The Pond)After Hoang stopped Matheu’s first attack with Battle Fader in Duel 1, he played Brain Control to take Matheu’s X-Saber Airbellum, forcing Matheu to discard his own Brain Control when it attacked. Hoang then Tributed it to Summon Caius the Shadow Monarch, which got hit by Bottomless Trap Hole. He could have just Tributed his Battle Fader for Caius, but by using Matheu’s monster, he got it off the field, and still had a Battle Fader on the field that he could Tribute for his Raiza next turn.